Linda and Chuck Keagle admire a sign for their long-gone Old English restaurant, Lord Charley’s, in a collectibles store in downtown Upland.

Lord Charley’s operated on Upland’s Foothill Boulevard from 1971 to 1991 before changing its name to the more working-class Charley’s Pub. More photos can be seen at <a href="http://www.insidesocal.com/davidallen/">insidesocal.com/davidallen</a>.

A prime piece of a fondly remembered prime rib restaurant has surfaced at a collectibles store in Upland.

A sign for Lord Charley’s — promising “a rib-roaring good time,” a play on its specialty entree — is mounted on a wall inside a showroom at the Vintage Vault, an antiques mall downtown. Reader Liz Parnis alerted me to the sign.

Owner Carlos Velastegui Jr. said a man brought in the sign early this year. He might have passed on the item himself, he said, as its resale potential is low, but his father was working that day and bought it for the store.

The race of man may love a lord, as Mark Twain declared, but what misty-eyed former customer is going to love Lord Charley’s enough to want a 4-by-5-foot wooden sign, and pay $550 for the privilege? Better, perhaps, to find a matchbook on eBay.

Chuck and Linda Keagle owned Lord Charley’s. I told them about the sign and invited them to the Vintage Vault to reminisce. One morning last month, they walked with me into the room, a former vault with two-foot-thick walls in what was once a Bank of America.

Upon sight of the sign, they broke into smiles.

“It brings back some great memories,” Chuck said.

Named for their son Charles, Lord Charley’s was in business in Upland, at Central Avenue and Foothill Boulevard, from 1971 to 1991 under that name, and then until 2002 as Charley’s Pub and Grill.

Theme restaurants were big as the 1970s dawned, especially the Olde English theme, with restaurants like Tam O’ Shanter, Rob Roy and Gulliver’s. The staff at Lord Charley’s wore knickers or skirts and full, loose shirts with lace-up fronts. Linda and her mother sewed them all.

It was the 1970s, Linda said, when hand-crafted items were big.

The menu was presented on a piece of oak. Linda brought one to show me. The most expensive entree was $7.25.

Lord Charley’s took over the former home of Matteo’s, a popular Italian restaurant. The original Matteo’s had been torn down and rebuilt around its centerpiece, a rock fireplace. That feature remained as Lord Charley’s focal point.

“The fireplace was open to both the dining room and the bar and was a major part of the ambiance,” Linda recalled. (Visit my blog at insidesocal.com/davidallen for photos.)

College students from Claremont and their parents liked Lord Charley’s. “Because of the English theme, St. Patrick’s Day was popular,” Chuck said. “Every Irishman would be there. All the priests from Damien.”

Lord Charley’s was open for dinner only. According to a whimsical phone directory ad of the era, its specialties were “prime ribs of beefe,” roast rack of lamb, curried chicken, “rib bones” and fish.

A review in the West End Guide described a typical dinner this way:

“The prime rib is served with au gratin potatoes, a fresh vegetable in season, soup or salad and a light, crusty Yorkshire pudding. The prime rib is served au jus and with a mild horseradish sauce. Warm loaves of home-baked sourdough bread are served with each meal.”

Other Lord Charley’s opened in Riverside, Arcadia, Rancho Mirage, La Habra and West Covina, all in newly built Tudor-style buildings. Upland’s was the first and the last.

By 1991, the theme felt dated, the Keagles said, and Lord Charley’s became a commoner, Charley’s Pub and Grill, without the costumes and English frills.

When a strip club opened next door, business suffered. Police activity and drunken scenes occurred with regularity, and a hooker plied her trade out of a van, the Keagles recalled. Customers became leery of visiting.

Meanwhile, the restaurant lease expired and the new landlord wanted to double their rent.

The Keagles, who also owned Cask n’ Cleaver and El Gato Gordo, had just taken over the Sycamore Inn. They decided to concentrate on that and give up Charley’s.

“Say goodbye to 30 years of a great run,” Chuck said. “Seven to 10 years is a success.”

The building at 2035 W. Foothill Blvd. is currently a medical office.

As for the sign, it was made by Paul Joelson, Linda’s brother, who sand-blasted the wood to create the relief with the name, slogan and caricatured British lord holding a mug of beer and a leg of lamb.

It may or may not have come from the Upland location. All Chuck knows for sure is that he’d saved one example of the sign and put it in a warehouse.

A decade ago, he gave it to a customer as a gift. The man eventually gave it to a friend, who tried selling it back to Keagle for $500. Keagle’s counter-offer of $100 was refused.

Today it’s in a room at the Vintage Vault alongside such items as a steamer trunk, slide projector, oil can, tools, scales, cigar boxes, a free-standing hair dryer and a Wurlitzer organ. Several customers recognize the sign and tell the staff they loved the prime rib and the good times. Someone asked about it Friday. But nobody has bought it.

Since 1997, David Allen has been taking up valuable newsprint and pixels at the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, where he is a columnist and blogger (insidesocal.com/davidallen). Among his specialties: city council meetings, arts and culture, people, places, local history, dining and a log in a field that resembled the Loch Ness monster. The Illinois native has spent his newspaper career in California, starting in 1987 at the Santa Rosa News-Herald and continuing at the Rohnert Park-Cotati Clarion, Petaluma Argus-Courier and Victor Valley Daily Press. A resident of Claremont who roots for the St. Louis Cardinals and knows far too much about Marvel Comics, the Kinks and Frank Zappa's Inland Valley years, he is the author of two collections of columns: 'Pomona A to Z' and 'Getting Started.'